The Night Watch
by LobsangLudd
Summary: Edward Masen, Vampire Hunter AU BxE
1. Night Club

The Night Watch

I haven't quit my other story but it has only two reviews (both from Sendmeonmyway, thanks so much chica) so I am rewriting it in a different easier to follow format. Meanwhile here is another story I have had bouncing around in my head. Enjoy! :-D

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Chapter One: Night Club

"Eleazar got a tip where Night Club is going to be tonight." Edward looked with a scowl when his brother dropped the huge stack of old and most probably very expensive texts on the table in front of him unceremoniously.

Emmett didn't notice. His excitement about his evening plans were palpable. Night Club was a sort of code the vampires had for big vampire party. Though they usually lived alone or in small groups, when you get right down to it they were essentially human and humans are tribal creatures, social in nature. A few times a month they would meet in what were essentially extremely covert and well planned raves to feed their craving for the contact of others.

The hunters weren't sure exactly how the vampires pulled the things off. They were always in a different place, always at a completely random time and day, and always organized and well attended. Two to five hundred would just all show up at the same farm, or subway train, or gymnasium. Some would bring hangers on, vampire groupies if you will, and the vamps would pretty much just party until the wee hours of the morning. It was a great in theory for the hunters, who could ideally take out a hundred or so vampires in one night, but they were impossible to predict and nearly impossible to find.

"Are we equipped for a raid?" Always practical, Edward didn't see how they could be, with two hunter teams away. Not to mention the only way to kill a vampire short tearing them up and lighting them on fire was with a heartwood stake blessed by a bokor, and those weren't exactly sold at the local market.

Emmett scoffed and turned toward the door to leave which Edward took to mean 'no, but we're going anyway.' Edward sighed as closed the musty tome he had been reading and stretched. If he was going to be up all night killing vampires he would need a nap.

* * *

Silently Edward made the signal for the separate teams to spread out and cover all the exits of the warehouse where Night Club sounded like it was in full swing. He took a moment to miss Jasper, his old partner who used to relish these raids. Jasper had been the strategist of the group, always thinking of clever ways to outsmart their enemies, but one night on a much smaller less dangerous raid he had left the group to pursue a vamp that was getting away and never returned.

Edward was the raid leader now, he motioned for Emmett to move out.

Trained killers, the hunters silently approached the building, taking out their respective sentrys quickly and simultaneously so none could sound an alarm. Carefully entering the warehouse, he and Emmett slowly made their way through a narrow hall, taking out the vampires one by one and checking the rooms, until the hallway spat them out into the huge strobe lit room where the party was.

It was kind of a shame they had to crash it, it looked like a great party. There was a stage on one side with a half decent band playing heavy metal, a bar on the other side serving drinks to the unsuspecting mortals who had been brought as snacks, and in the center of the room a huge pulsing mass that was at least two hundred vampires, all swaying and grinding against each other. They outnumbered the hunters three to one, but the vampires were not prepared for the fight, all absorbed in their own pleasure and probably half of them drunk or high on whatever their mortal treats had imbibed before they themselves became the drink of choice.

Edward sidled along the wall toward a wallflower vamp, the strobe light masking his advance he dispatched the vampire quickly and maneuvered him into a nearby chair so he would look less suspicious, before turning to see a petrified mortal.

Fuck why didn't he see her there before.

Edward set his crossbow down and put his hands up in a non-threatening way, hoping to keep her quiet.

She screamed.

And all hell broke loose. Edward snatched his crossbow up as the vampires started running for the doors, killing or carrying away all the mortals they could to eliminate witnesses. Edward saw Emmett and his other fellow hunters frantically running into the fray, stabbing as many vampires as they could, but the vampires were faster and disinclined to fight unprepared so most escaped the warehouse and ran off into the night and there was nothing the hunters could do about it.

After the vampire exodus Edward and five of the other hunters surveyed the carnage. The room was littered with bodies, both of the vampires they killed and the mortal guests, with a few hunters sprinkled in between. Edward frowned as he looked down at the body of the girl who had screamed, her neck broken. He said a quick prayer for her soul.

"Tanya, you and Eleazar separate the vampires from the mortals for burning or burial. Rose and Emmett check upstairs for stragglers, Garret you check around outside and I will go through the rest of the rooms down here." Barking orders was second nature to Edward now that Jasper was gone. Everyone set about their tasks without question, looking grim. Tonight had not gone well at all.

Edward methodically checked every room on the first floor going counterclockwise. He didn't find any vampires, but he found a mortal man in the last one wearing some kind of leather harness with a leash. Edward warned him to be more careful who he associated with and sent him on his way, the man left without a word but cast a funny look at an afghan thrown haphazardly on the floor. Edward held the door for him and watched him scurry past the bodies without looking at them and out the front of the warehouse. Edward shrugged and was just about to leave himself when he looked back at the afghan and on a hunch kicked it away.

Underneath the blanket was an iron ring, set into the floor. Edward investigated and found a very well made trapdoor, laid almost seamlessly into the wooden floorboards. With a sharp tug it came up easily and Edward descended into a root cellar.

He scanned the small room slowly, crossbow ready, until he came upon a vampire cowering in the corner. She was a girl, probably only eighteen or nineteen in human years. She looked so small and delicate. Her skin was pale even for a vampire and a dark cloud of shiny mahogany hair obscured part of her face. Edward looked at her tiny hands clutching the wall behind her and was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to protect her, ridiculous of course since one need only look at her bright ruby colored eyes to know that she was more than able to protect herself. Edward inched forward keeping his crossbow trained on her and watched her shrink back into the wall. She was really frightened. Edward almost felt ashamed for scaring her.

"Edward? Come on we're ready to go." Emmett's voice drifted down from the main room and Edwards finger tightened slightly on the trigger. The vampire saw this and flinched, turning her head away and closing her eyes. Without those eyes looking at him she looked so angelic and vulnerable.

"Someone will be here in the morning to take care of the bodies, be gone by then because they will probably raze the building. This is a one time deal, if I _ever_ see you again I won't hesitate to kill you. Do you understand?" The girl nodded slightly, still looking terrified.

"Edward?" The voice was closer now, in the room above. Edward whirled around and bounded up the steps and out the trap door.

"Find anything?"

"No, just some rats. Let's go home I'm starving." The mention of food was enough to distract Emmett who grinned and loped out of the room with out a glance back. Edward carefully closed the cellar door, not daring to look down at the girl within.

The raid hadn't gone as poorly as he had thought, he saw when he returned to the main room. The biggest pile by far was the dead vampires, sixty or so piled in a heap. There were only about ten mortals in a slightly tidier heap near them and six hunters laid out side by side and being gingerly covered by Tanya with a large tarp. All and all not a bad night.

Edward helped the others retrieve the stakes and then happily piled into the back of Emmett's jeep, trying hard not to think about the beautiful girl who was still cowering terrified in the root cellar.

* * *

A bokor is a voodoo priest who can do good and bad magic.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review even if it is only to say I read this story, it didn't suck, or even I read this story and it DID suck, or the story was great but you suck. This wasn't beta-ed it probably has some typos, point them out to me. I'm not going to hold chapters hostage for reviews but if I don't get any feedback at all I will probably get bored and move on to something else. Please review!


	2. I Was In the Neighborhood

Thank you so so much Alisa-chan for reviewing. Everyone else please review. Does it suck? Am I too abrupt? Are my chapters too short? I'm stuck on chapter 3 and feedback would get my creative juices flowing.

Chapter 2: I Was In the Neighborhood

Two weeks later Edward was still thinking about her. Every mission he went on and didn't see her brought a mixture of relief and disappointment, and then guilt and disgust over the fact that he had felt relief or disappointment over the fate of a vampire. He tried not to think about her but she plagued his dreams, and a dozen times a day he was reminded of her in some way. The dark wood of the antique conference table in the briefing room was just the color of her hair, the ivory pitcher full of flowers on the table in the hall was as smooth and creamy looking as her skin, he even caught himself favorably comparing the deep ruby red of her eyes to Esme's antique red wine goblets before he forcibly reminded himself of what those red eyes meant.

To rein in his treacherous thoughts he threw himself into his work, taking twice the work load everyone else handled, some jobs on only the faintest hint of a lead. He swore to himself that he wasn't looking for her, but he was only half convinced.

That was why he found himself now freezing his ass off on the muddy ground intently watching a completely vacant building that there hadn't been a hint of movement in for the past 12 hours. When he saw that it was only an hour until dawn he finally gave up. With a groan he straightened up from his crouched position and started heading for his hidden car. Yet another bad tip, third this week. Lauren and Eleazar were not on their A-game.

_crackle_

Edward spun around at the sound of crunching leaves and switched on his flashlight, but after a careful survey of the surrounding woods he couldn't see anything. He shrugged and jogged the last few feet to the car.

All the way home Edward couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched. He heard a creak and nearly flipped the overhead light on to check the back seat before he caught himself.

He was acting like a scared little girl.

He chuckled and turned the radio up, singing along when he knew the words and busting into a chorus of la la las when he didn't. Now he was acting like a scared teenager but at least he didn't check the back seat. He would have felt really stupid when he saw there was nothing back there. No vampire would hide in his back seat, and if they had they would have eaten him by now.

Back at the house Edward couldn't bring himself to park all the way over in the converted carriage house so he pulled up to the front door before shutting off the engine. Kate would chew him out about it later but all he could care about at the moment was getting into his safe room and taking a hot shower.

On the second floor landing he heard a stair behind him creak, he whirled around but again saw nothing. More than a little creeped out he took the remaining stairs two at a time and hurried down the upstairs hallway to his room where he locked the door.

Laughing at himself good-naturedly, (if a bit hysterically) Edward retrieved a fresh fluffy bath towel from the armoire and slipped into the bathroom that connected his bedroom to what had once been Jasper's.

Edward turned on the shower, adjusted the temperature, and retrieved his shampoos from his half of the bathroom cupboard. With Jasper gone Edward had the bathroom to himself so didn't have to observe such niceties as keeping his soaps out of sight, but pretending he still shared the bathroom almost made it feel like Jasper was still there, sleeping on the other side of the door. It had been a real blow when he had vanished, Jasper had been Edward's mentor of sorts. A few years older than Edward, Jasper had already been living with Carlisle when the older man had taken he and Emmett in after their parents were killed by vampires. Jasper had been the one to finally convince twelve year old Edward that he had nothing to fear and teach him to use his crossbow. Now that Jasper was gone Edward felt adrift, an obedient soldier without a CO.

Pushing depressing thoughts away Edward quickly stripped off his leather jacket and gloves leaving them in a pile on the chair by the bathroom door. Next came a black button down shirt followed by the thin fabric body armor, those both got dropped into the waiting hamper. He took a second to flex in the mirror and smile smugly at his chiseled upper body before removing the leather wrist cuffs and neck sleeve that protected his pulse points and dropping them on the counter next to the sink, then he sat on the toilet to remove his steel toed leather boots and his thick water wicking socks. He felt like there were eyes burning into him but ignored the sensation as he unhooked the heavy utility belt and dropped it next to his cuffs. Finally he undid his pants and slid them and his boxers down together in one fluid motion.

_GASP_

Edward was almost certain he hadn't imagined it. Stark naked he made a thorough search of the bedroom and bathroom before deciding that the long hours were getting to him. He should tell Carlisile he needed a break. That was how he should deal with his obsession, take a week-long trip someplace too sunny for vampires to even _think_ of going to.

Edward stepped gingerly into the hot stream of the shower and started soaping himself up. As he did his mind drifted once again to the beautiful vampire girl with her full Cupid's bow mouth and her adorable button nose that was ever so slightly upturned. As his mind wandered over her admittedly very nice figure, his hand wandered absentmindedly down his own body until he was stroking himself gently. In his mind she was not terrified but pouting. He imagined her pink tongue darting out to wet her lips as his hand sped up and then the pout turned into a coy smile as she spoke.

_'Let me help you with that Edward'_ In his mind her voice was low and sultry, she sounded like a porn star. The voice didn't match her gamine face at all but then he never had heard her voice so a porn star was the next best thing. His hand sped up further as he envisioned her licking her lips again and then opening them to...

_CRASH_

Edward whipped the curtain open at the sound of breaking glass and turned to face the bathroom. The window was smashed in, a sharp jagged layer of glass just inside the frame. A groan drew his eyes to the floor where he saw her, the object of his recent fantasy, blushing crimson and smiling sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head, lying amidst the broken glass.


	3. And I Decided to Stop By

Thank You so much to my brand spanking new beta Master of the Boot and to everyone who has reviewed so far.

Chapter 3: And I decided to Stop By

Edward tried to get his breathing under control as he swept the floor to get any missed broken glass for the third time. He had led the girl..._vampire_ he mentally corrected and berated himself... into his bedroom commanding her to stay and then grabbed some clothes and fled back to the bathroom, where he had changed very slowly, brushed his teeth, shaved, reapplied his deodorant, and spent a good five minutes examining what he suspected was the beginning of a blemish on the underside of his chin before deciding to clean up the glass.

Deciding that there couldn't possibly be another spec of glass on the floor and finally feeling composed enough to confront his beautiful little intruder, Edward braced himself to open the door only to feel his veins turn to ice when he heard the door between his room and the hallway open first.

"Edward? Is everything alright?" Edward burst out of the bathroom to see the worried face of his brother and, thankfully, no vampires in sight. "Rosalie and I saw that your bathroom window was broken on our way back, is everything okay?" Emmett was walking toward the bathroom door as he spoke and now stood next to Edward, surveying the damage.

"A bird," Had his voice cracked a little? Edward swallowed and started again. "A bird slammed into the window. I cleaned up all the glass already." Well it was kind of true.

"Must have been a damn big bird, where is the body?"

"It flew away. Just shook himself off and hopped out the window."

Emmett looked at him oddly. "The bird that was flying fast enough at your window to shatter two panes of glass just got up and hopped away?" Edward scrambled for something more convincing to say as he surreptitiously (he thought) led Emmett back through the room to the hallway door.

"Yup that was one hell of a bird." Edward flashed his most charming, innocent grin as he held the door open for Emmett. Emmett still looked suspicious but let it slide, walking out into the hall.

"Okay, just remember Rose and I are in the next room if you need anything." But Edward had already shut the door in his face. Muttering, Emmett headed down the hall in the opposite direction from Jasper's room.

Edward locked the door, deciding to go finish his shower wank now that the pretty little intruder was gone. He turned toward the bathroom only to stop short when he caught sight of the bed and the female vampire now reclining on it.

She didn't look much like a vampire really. The light brown ankle boots she wore were delicate and relatively soft leather, not suitable for running after prey, though, Edward thought, a girl like her probably didn't have trouble getting prey to come to her. Her sun dress, which thankfully for Edward's remaining dignity came to just past her knees, was white with a pattern of tiny blue flowers on it, not good for hiding blood or lurking around at night. The style of the dress was suspect as well, while most female vampires used their, ahem, _attributes _to their advantage while hunting, this vampire's dress was modestly cut, the scoop neck ending inches shy of where it would show any kind of cleavage and she wore a brown leather jacket that effectively covered what little of her luscious curves would have been visible in the loose fitting dress. She even had her hair in what could only be described as a schoolmarm bun. She was propped up on her elbows against the pillows and looking at Edward with a smile that was trying its very hardest to be seductive but had run out of juice half way between adorable and constipated. It was too much for Edward who let out an accidental snort of laughter.

That was the wrong reaction. The girl vampires face fell like he had told her Christmas was never coming again and Edward felt like a complete heel for causing that hurt look. He sat on the edge of the bed and reached for her cold hand, stopping just short of taking it to rest his hand on the bed centimeters from hers.

" . . . Hi" Edward was brilliant as always.

"Hello" He had done something right because the girl vampires expression had drawn back up into a soft smile. She pushed herself back up on the bed so she was sitting up, which put her face less than a foot from Edwards. Edward swallowed.

"My name is Edward."

"Bella" Edward slid his hand so close to hers they were almost touching and looked up at her to smile but seeing her blood-red eyes so close made him shiver involuntarily. Bella pulled her hands into her lap and looked away.

There was a moments awkward silence and then Edward asked the million dollar question. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you again." Bella turned back and focused on his hand, keeping her head tilted so her bangs hid her eyes from view. "I was curious. Jane told me the hunters had been tipped off to the safe house you were watching so I got there yesterday morning and waited and when you came back here I followed you."

Edward felt a dozen emotions at once, none of which where the fear he should feel about becoming the object of a vampire's fixation. Mostly he felt relieved that he wasn't alone in this weird obsession and excited for reasons he tried not to think about. He felt a little guilty for leading a vampire straight to headquarters but it was the light guilt one would get from lying to their mother about the current status of their homework the night of the big party rather than the crushing guilt of having allowed a soulless monster intent on killing all of your family into the house where said family was currently sleeping.

Bella reached over to Edward's hand, lightly touching it with her own icy fingers. Edward acknowledged her silent request by flipping his hand over palm up on the bed and spreading out his fingers. Bella traced each finger so lightly she was barely touching them and the sensation was beyond incredible. Edward closed his eyes in pleasure when she ran out of fingers and started drawing shapes in his palm.

They sat like that silent and nearly motionless, for a few minutes. Edward was so caught up in the feeling of her hand on his that he didn't feel her face inching closer until suddenly her lips were on his for just a second, a dry, chaste peck. Edward's eyes flew open but Bella was already gone, the now opened bedroom window letting in the early morning sounds.

--

At breakfast a few hours later Edward blearily read over his hastily written report on the stakeout of the night before while he moved his eggs around the plate and waited for the coffee pot to finish brewing. He felt a little ashamed at not including anything about his early morning visitor, but he rationalized to himself that she was just a lonely kid and shouldn't have a pack of hunters after her just because she had the incredibly good if stupid taste to fall for one of them.

Emmett made one of his noisy entrances, dropping his food laden plate from such a height that it made Edward cringe, Esme was very close to making Emmett eat off of the heavy plastic plates they kept for camping trips at every meal. Edward looked up to find his brother shoveling food into his mouth while watching Edward with a huge unconcealed grin.

"What?"

_chomp chomp chomp burp chomp chomp _Emmetts eyes remained glued to Edward and his smile didn't waver.

"Stop staring at me." Edward looked down at his own plate for a while but when he looked back up Emmett was still watching him. "Spit it out Emmett."

"So where is your lady friend this fine morning?" All the blood drained from Edwards face and it took a moment for him to speak.

"What lady friend." To his humiliation his voice cracked on the first world as if he were in high school and had done something naughty.

Emmett frowned. "I heard you talking to a girl last night in your room." Emmett's grin came back full force "If I had known you had a girl over I would have left you alone. Things must have been pretty wild for you guys to have broken the window."

"Oh, that was. . . the television." The last words sounded forced even to Edwards ears. Luckily he was saved by Carlisle entering the room. Emmett gave Edward a knowing smirk and dropped the subject.

Carlisile's serious look was enough to turn even Emmett all business. He took his place at the end of the dining slash briefing table and carefully neatened the pile of papers in front of him while they waited for the others.

Esme entered first taking a seat next to Carlisle while Rosalie came in and sat next to her husband. Tanya, dressed to a Tee as usual, came in a minute later with a cup of coffee for Edward, who she scooted her chair a little closer to than was necessary. Edward was so happy to have caffeine he didn't even notice. Her sisters Irina and Kate sat on her other side, and Garret entering a minute later, took a forlorn look at his crush Kate sandwiched between Irina and Esme and took the seat across from her, flashing her sad puppy dog eyes every few minutes. Eleazar and Lauren came in a few minutes after that, bickering as usual and sat as far from each other as possible, Lauren next to Carlisle. Peter and Charlot and Mike and Jessica, the former a wonderful team and the latter the worst couple ever, took the seats on opposite sides of the table next to Edward and Emmet respectively and tried to out PDA each other. Mary, creepy and possibly, as Edward had suspected when he had arrived as a child, a soul sucking incubus swept silently into the room last and took the chair opposite Carlisle at the other end of the table.

Carlisle cleared his throat and the room became silent as all eyes swiveled toward him. He took a moment to straighten his papers one last time before he looked out at his piecemeal family and sighed. "The vampires are up to something."

Everyone maintained respectful silence waiting for him to continue.

"We have reports coming in from sources all over. More and more vampires have been showing up every week and the concentration of them is getting too high for the population of this area to feed them all. There isn't a noticeable increase in the attack rate which means they are traveling far out of the area to feed which begs the question why are they coming here in the first place? They are gathering here for some purpose and whatever it is it is not good."

There was exciting buzzing for a moment before Carlisle started speaking again, giving more specifics about the apparent vampire invasion, but Edward was no longer listening. As the horror of the vampires organizing a collective strike settled it the reality of what he had done the night before hit him like a ton of bricks. Edward looked at Carlisle and opened his mouth to tell him about the base being compromised. Carlisle noticed and quieted everyone down.

"Yes Edward?" Edward almost told him, almost. But then in his mind's eye he saw her again, looking so small and terrified backed up to the wall of the root cellar and he couldn't do it.

"Nothing sir, I had a thought but I was distracted and I have forgotten it already." Carlisle gave him a measuring look before Lauren demanded his attention once again. Edward looked back down at his uneaten breakfast.

He wouldn't make her a target, but he wouldn't put his family in danger by seeing her again either.


	4. Something Wicked

Happy Halloween! Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed so far, it means a lot to me. Keep them coming! Special thanks to my Beta Master of the Boot who finished in plenty of time for me to finish today even though I only sent it last night after I watched Supernatural.

Chapter 4: Something Wicked

Another night sitting up freezing his bits off, another paper bag full of greasy food, another twelve hours he would never get back. Another stakeout. At least this time he had Emmett for company, though they couldn't risk talking too much and Emmett kept waggling his eyebrows and giving Edward knowing smirks whenever he sighed or shifted. Mostly they crouched on the hard ground and watched the silent building ahead of them for movement.

Though he tried not to, Edward once again found his thoughts drifting to Bella. She was just so unexpected. So . . . pure. The exact opposite of a vampire. Edward had been loathing and killing vampires since he was twelve. Seven years and he had seen all kinds, old ladies, young men, boys his age, vampy vixens; virginal beauties, even a few little children, and he had never once felt even an inkling of the protective instinct that slammed bodily into him when he thought of Bella.

Beautiful Bella, with the musical voice and the shy gentle manner. He could just imagine what her soft body would look like under the shapeless clothes she had worn to hide it. Edward blushed suddenly at his uncharacteristic thoughts. Emmett gave a soft chuckle.

"Wanna talk about it?" Emmett whispered. Edward glared at him. "You'll crack eventually."

Edward was saved from answering by a sound coming from somewhere on the other side of the small square building. Emmett motioned for Edward to keep a lookout while he went to investigate. Edward tensed up a bit and began scanning the area with more alertness while Emmett disappeared behind the building.

"They're all long gone by now." Edward leapt three feet in the air and came down gasping for breath, his heart hammering so hard he was sure it would break through his chest, and pivoted around to see Bella, by the look of it she was trying very hard not to laugh at him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"I wasn't . . . what are you doing here?" Bella was dressed for a sunny picnic rather than skulking around late at night. Her Capri pants and frothy white shirt would leave her freezing if she were a normal girl and she even had on a sleek pair of fashionable sunglasses.

"We left out the back the second we smelled you. I snuck away from the group and doubled back so I could see you. I was starting to think the big one would never leave, that was the fifth bucket we threw." Edward smiled at her nickname for Emmett, one he was sure "the big one" would enjoy.

"His name is Emmett, and he is going to be back any second. You should probably leave; I doubt you will hold the same fascination for him as you do for me."

Bella's smile broke free and practically split her face in two. Edward found himself smiling back. "Don't worry, I filled Alice in on everything, she is running interference. She will warn me when Emmett is headed back. Tell me more about this fascination." Edward blushed.

"Who is Alice?"

Bella bit her lip uncomfortably, she apparently hadn't meant to tell him about her friend being their at all and had slipped up. Edward found this endearing. "My friend."

"A vampire?" Edward tried to keep his voice one of uninterested curiosity but there was an undercurrent of disgust so practiced in the word that he found it hard to disguise it completely. Bella heard it and frowned.

"Yes" She was suddenly very interested in the pebble she was pushing around with the toe of her sandal. Edward suddenly felt inexplicably ashamed of his very normal and healthy prejudices against vampires. He pushed the feelings aside and pressed for more information.

"What were you meeting here about?" Bella gave him a patronizing look and kept silent "Why here? Who were you meeting?"

"Does it really matter? They didn't even show up." Bella slapped one hand over her mouth looking horrified at having said so much. Edward grinned and eventually she gave in and gave him a sheepish smile back. "I'm not safe around you. You dazzle me so the filter between my brain and mouth stops functioning." Edward's grin grew even wider.

"Why were you meeting such rude . . . people." Edward stumbled on the word, instinctively not wanting to apply it to vampires but decided it would be more persuasive than "vile soulless bloodsuckers." Bella pouted.

"Nothing exciting, all very boring actually. I'm sure we could think of other more _interesting _things to talk about." Bella had been slowly moving toward him and was only a few centimeters from his face as she said the last word. Without warning she closed the small distance and kissed him hard. Nothing like the peck from earlier, this kiss was all force and scraping teeth and when Edward gasped it became all tongues and hands and Edward found himself giving as enthusiastically as he was receiving. He swung Bella around, pushing her back up against a nearby tree and deliberately slid his hand down her body, lingering for a moment on her hip before continuing on to her knee which he hoisted up to hook around his waist.

"Ahem" Edward was startled out of his lust induced haze and turned to see who had interrupted them. When he saw the small spiky haired vampire he whirled around, putting a hand back to keep Bella shielded behind him. The vampire giggled.

"Can you give us a second?" Bella asked the vampire.

"Alright but hurry, the dumb one is on his way." The pixie-like vampire disappeared into the surrounding trees; Edward watched the point where she had vanished with distrust. Bella stepped into his line of sight and he saw that she was again fighting a laugh at his expense. All at once the implications of what he had just done sunk in and he knew what he had to do now.

"Don't seek me out anymore. If I see you again I will kill you." Even as he said it Edward knew it to be a lie. So apparently did Bella.

"No you won't, you can feel it too. We are meant to be together." Bella rested a hand on his chest over his still racing heart.

"It's too dangerous for both of us. I may not be able to kill you, but I won't acknowledge you either. There can never be an us." Edward spun around so his back was toward her and slowly walked forward to pick up the crossbow he had dropped before their impromptu make out session. He didn't hear her come up behind him.

"I won't give up. I'll make you change your mind." Bella's voice was soft and breathy and he lips were nearly touching the sensitive shell of his ear. Edward turned to ask what she meant by that but she was gone.

"Well the vampires are long gone, but we should still investigate." Edward was startled to hear Emmett so close behind him and using a normal speaking voice rather than the whispers they had been using all evening. He nodded and followed Emmett down to the little house.

Inside the farm house was quite as grisly as he had expected but not quite as fresh. The three corpses inside, a woman and two men all emaciated indicating extensive drug use, were not in the condition anticipated either. One of the men, the younger one possibly though it was hard to tell, was drained of blood with just a relatively small tear in the neck as most vampire victims were, but the other two had been horribly mauled which was not normal at all, vampires tended to be efficient eaters wasting as little of the precious blood as possible by making as few holes as they could. These bodies were caked in wasted congealed blood and looked like their flesh had been half eaten, another thing vampires didn't generally do. The decay of the bodies meant that they had been dead for several days at least which meant that the vampires here tonight had come for some purpose other than feeding. Maybe they had been meeting about whatever had Carlisle so worried. Edward shivered and turned to survey the rest of the room.

Other than the macabre scene in the corner the room was almost pristine under a thick layer of dust. It was drowning in chintz from the upholstery to the draperies and every surface that wasn't covered in fabric was crowded with knick knacks and figurines each on their own little doilies. A half empty food bowl labeled "Mr. Pickles" and a bowl full of stagnant water sat just inside the archway to the kitchen and for a moment Edward really hoped that the cat had escaped the carnage and had the good sense not to come home.

The tidiness of the room was odd too. Vampires liked to hunt their prey. Even if they had come across these three while they were hungry they would have sobered them up before killing them so they would put up more of a fight, these were killed hastily, there was no sign of a struggle. Not to mention the room look more like the living room of a sweet little old lady rather than a crack house. Most likely the old woman had died some weeks prior and the addicts had come to squat and surprised the vampires who were already here.

"What do you think did this? Some new kind of aggressive super vamp?" Emmett drew Edward's attention reluctantly back to the cadavers.

"Maybe, or maybe some sort of vampire dog, some of those bite marks are too big to be human." Emmett continued examining the bodies as Edward checked out the rest of the house. For the most part it wasn't much different from the living room. Dusty, neat, and gaudily decorated for the most part, no one had been there for a while. The fridge was full of rotting food and there was a small pile of junk mail under the mail slot in the door. The electricity worked so someone had been paying the bills and it unsettled Edward to think it was the vampires. He switched the light on in the bedroom and jumped back with a loud gasp that had Emmett running toward him with his weapon out. In the bed was the partially mummified badly decayed corpse of what he assumed was the old woman based on the scraps of night gown that rivaled the living room in terms of flower population. The body was so old it didn't even smell any more, at least a year or two.

Emmett gave the room a once over and shuddered before dragging Edward out with him. "I found something you should see." Emmett led him to the kitchen and showed him a door hidden behind a pair of long curtains that opened to an old wooden staircase down to what looked like an unfinished basement. Emmett took point and the two descended into the dimly lit room and were surprised to see a sturdy heavily reinforced steel door in the corner. Emmett eased it open to reveal a well stocked fallout shelter.

This room was not as disused as the rest of the house. The foodstuffs remained untouched on the shelves but the beds were rumpled as if they had been recently slept in and the chairs and table in the center of the room were dust free.

It was all getting very confusing. Why would the vampires come squat in this fallout shelter when they had a huge heavily guarded opulent coven house just a few hours away outside of Seattle? Why would they need to mess up all three beds when they can't sleep? And most importantly in his mind though he tried not to think about it, who was Bella meeting? Had she had a part in unmaking one of those beds? Edward squashed those thoughts as quickly as he had had them.

"So when are you going to tell me about your special lady friend?" Could Emmett read his mind? Edward nearly tripped over a small battery powered radio.

"What?"

"The girl you had over the other night. I know it wasn't Tanya because she would have told everyone by now, and it can't be any of the other hunters because they are either coupled up, good friends with Tanya or that cold bitch Lauren which means you snuck a Civie into the house to have your wicked way with her." Emmett moved to study the provisions on neat shelves against the wall.

Edward floundered for something to say as he picked up the radio. On closer inspection he saw it was modern and very expensive, nothing like the rest of the room which screamed Cold War Vintage.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm happy for you, a sweet innocent civilian girl is just what you need to get your panties out of that ball choking twist they're in. You've been sulking alone too much since Jasper died. Just be careful, you know Carlisle's 'hunters only in the mansion' rule."

Edward gave a nervous chuckle and turned back toward Emmett ready to suggest that they had seen enough.

"I'm just so glad you finally lost your cherry. I was starting to worry you would die a virgin." Emmett gave a cheeky grin but Edward didn't see it because he was staring with a look of horror at the radio in his hands that had just emitted a soft giggle.

It was _on_.

And the Vampires were _listening to them_. Edward dropped the radio and Emmett suddenly understanding the danger, motioned for a retreat. Edward nodded and the two hunters left the house as quickly and quietly as possible, barely breathing until they got back to Edward's Volvo.


	5. Strange Love

Sorry all, the power cord for my laptop blew yet again. Back on track now though! Stay tuned after the fic for Cameo Contest Details

Chapter 5: Strange Love

Edward brought his sword down in a smooth arc cleanly taking off the head of one of his adversaries with enough power to continue the motion, lodging the blade into the soft body of another foe. He kicked the motionless corpse roughly away from his weapon and whirled effortlessly, prepared to attack only to find himself out of enemies, the broken bodies strewn about the large clearing. With a sigh he started setting the practice dummies back up.

The sun was high overhead when he first felt eyes on him and to his humiliation his first thought was embarrassment at how awful he must look, filthy and sweaty in a pair of cut off track pants and a very tattered and grimy tee. He felt the blush rising in his cheeks but he didn't acknowledge her presence at all, didn't even slow down or speed up his practice. He occasionally caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye but he was careful not to turn his head to look at her. She did a good job of helping him, staying just beyond the edge of the clearing behind the trees and keeping strictly to the shadows (probably to hide her peculiar skin condition, he thought unsolicitously). It was nearly twilight when he finally decided to break the silence.

He turned to face her and was almost knocked sideways by her ever-breathtaking beauty. The sunglasses she wore to mask her blood irises were big, covering most of her face, but they were only semi-tinted so they didn't completely obscure the beautiful shape of her eyes.

"Are you going to tell me what you were doing in the farmhouse?" Bella remained silent. "What killed those druggies?" She looked away.

Edward couldn't take it. He turned and left, not looking back.

* * *

Over the next few weeks Bella pursued Edward relentlessly. Whenever he was alone she would appear and watch, patiently waiting for him to speak to her. He never did. When he started to avoid being alone and installed locks on his bedroom windows she started leaving him gifts, everything from a pair of fancy Italian leather shoes to wild flowers she had picked nearby. Sometimes sentimental and sometimes silly. Once an expensive and rare piece of sheet music on the day after she had watched him playing his piano and not a week later he received a bag of his favorite candy. They were left on the front seat of his car, in his locker in the training area, a few were even hand delivered by children from the nearby town of Forks. Each present had a small card that said only Edward in an untidy scrawl very unlike what he had imagined a vampires handwriting would look like. Emmett always smiled when he saw one of the gifts and Edward always blushed and hurried upstairs to add whatever new trinket it was to the ever growing pile in his closet.

Edward tried not to dwell on his persistent admirer and concentrate on the mystery that was going on with the vampires. He and Emmett had returned to the farm house with a small strike team only to find the place sterilized, the bodies gone and the fallout shelter stripped of anything that had looked like it had been disturbed before. He did find the radio and viciously crushed it under the heel of his boot feeling stupid and betrayed. Tanya gave him a funny look for that but he just shrugged it off.

The vampires had also been far more quiet than usual which made everyone feel uneasy. They hadn't even attempted to get a little payback for the raid on the Night Club by attacking one of the hunters satellite safe houses as they usually would have. And they continued to show up in droves, there were so many now that they wouldn't even be able to hunt in the nearby states without causing a significant spike in homicides, and that meant that many of them were drinking bagged blood. Vampires _never_ drank bagged blood when they didn't absolutely have to.

The whole situation pointed to something apocalypticly bad but though the hunters knew they were coming they had no idea where the vampires were going. The morning meetings were now being held twice daily and at every one Carlisle looked a little more grim.

Edward sighed as he rose from his seat after one such not-so-morning meeting and was surprised to feel a strong hand on his elbow, Carlisle stopping him from leaving. They waited together as everyone filtered out and Carlisle didn't speak until they were alone and all he said was "follow me."

Edward followed him through the into library and then through a passage that lead to a remote and little used part of the basement. Edward, intrigued by the cloak and dagger stuff was so caught off guard that he nearly blurted out "Bella" when they reached their destination and he saw the vampiress shackled to a chair in the middle of the barren room.

He caught himself just in time, and after a half-second he realized that it wasn't Bella at all, though she did resemble her quite a bit. This woman's hair he could see was glossy black under the filth not the soft chestnut brown Bella's was. Her eyes were the same shape but they were a little too close together and though they were of course the same red color this woman's seemed somehow less expressive. Her clothing was so caked in dirt and blood he couldn't see the original colors but it obviously involved some type of sausage casing tight bustier and possibly chaps, nothing like the cute girl next door look Bella wore for him. She also didn't look relieved to see him, as Bella probably would have, she just looked tired and hungry.

Edward took a breath to be relieved that it wasn't his would be Juliet and then another second to be guilty about caring whether it was or not. Before he could take a second to feel bad about avoiding Bella Carlisle interrupted his thoughts.

"Tanya and Irina found her outside of that farmhouse you and Emmett discovered last month a week and a half ago, she hasn't said a word." Edward gave him a puzzled look. He didn't usually interrogate prisoners himself. Carlisle noticed and smiled. "She has been staring at us like we are speaking Greek, but Eleazar went off on her last night swearing in Spanish, and she cocked her head like she was listening. He thinks she doesn't understand English but speaks a language similar to Spanish. I brought you down here because you are the only one that speaks Portuguese and Italian." And it all made sense. Carlisle left him to is and Edward turned back to his prisoner.

He tried Portuguese first, "_What were you doing there?"_

She looked puzzled. He tried Italian.

"_What were you doing there?" _He thought she understood that time, rather than confused she looked angry and a little scared but she didn't speak. Edward pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back against the wall. He had never cared about the fate of vampires before but unbidden the thought came to him that Bella would be mad if he hurt this one. He stood up straight and changed tactics.

"_Are you hungry?" _

She hesitated a moment and then carefully nodded, "Sỉ."

Edward turned to the small refrigerator probably brought down here for just this reason and pulled out a bag of blood. He was surprised when he turned back to see her eying it hungrily rather than turning up her nose as he had expected. She must be hungrier than he thought. He carefully cut off a corner with his pocket knife and held the bag to her lips, she drained it in less than a minute and looked at him almost pleadingly. Edward fed her three more bags and then filled a bowl with water and started gently cleaning her face before asking her any more questions.

"_Why were you out alone?" _

She paused, as if considering answering, but instead she asked a question of her own. _"You are Edward?"_

Edward dropped the cloth "_How do you know my name?" _

She gave him a 'well duh' look before answering _"Bella" _

"_What else has she told you?"_

"_Not much just that she was spared by a handsome hunter with eyes the color of jade. She has been speaking constantly about you, waxing poetic about your many talents. It's quite sickening, though now that I've met you I see what she means. Don't worry hunter, she isn't spilling your secrets and she hasn't told anyone she isn't sure she can trust"_

Edward picked the cloth back up and began gingerly cleaning her face again in silence thinking about these new revelations. He had started on her hands before he spoke again.

"_What is your name?" _He rubbed the cloth gently on her left wrist knowing what he would find under the grime.

"Carmen." Edward permitted a small smile at this show of trust but it turned into a frown when his careful cleaning revealed not the black ouroboro tattoo he was expecting that graced the wrist of every vampire he had ever seen but a tattoo of three red drops, probably meant to be blood. He was silent as he finished cleaning her and fed her another bag of blood before he left to go delve into the old hunter journals to see if any had encountered this strange tattoo before.

After an hour in the library digging up the books he thought would help him he kicked open the door to his room dropping his load unceremoniously on the desk. He selected the first volume and turned to settle in on the bed to see a chunky badly knit sweater. The red and black stripes didn't quite meet up on the seems, the waist was a little small, the collar was big enough that he could pull the sweater on while he was wearing a football helmet, and the left sleeve was a good four inches shorter than the right. It was the most perfect gift he had ever received. No one had ever spent that much effort on him and he found himself pulling it on and taking a deep breath pleased that it smelled like Bella. An instant later he tore it off and raced down the stairs into the kitchen. He grabbed a heavy duty garbage bag and ran the steps back up the stairs determined to get rid of the temptation while his resolve held. He shoved all the gifts from the closet into the trash bag until it was too full, cramming the sweater in last so that it was still half hanging out and sprinted back down the stairs and outside to the trash can on the curb, leaning the bag up against it for pick up the next day. Giving the sweater a last push into the bag Edward stood, his gave rising, and froze, because there across the street looking absolutely broken was Bella. She wasn't wearing sunglasses today and Edward saw that her eyes looked more pink than red somehow and he worried for a second that she wasn't eating but before he could say anything she dropped the gift she had in her hand and blurred away. Edward told himself it was for the best, returning to his room and going straight to bed.

* * *

The next morning he was awoken early by the sound of the garbage truck and without thinking bolted back outside. He got there just as they were driving off but ran after them shouting and waving his arms until the driver took pity on him and stopped. They opened the back of the truck and there was the sweater just peaking out from under a pile of trash. Edward thanked the garbage men profusely and pulled the now very stinky sweater on over his pare chest, giving himself a firm hug and bemoaning the fact that Bella's scent was gone. As he walked back to the mansion he remembered the gift Bella had dropped the day before and went over to where she had been standing to retrieve it. It was a vampiress stuffed doll of the type found in bowling alley crane games and Edward laughed and hugged it to his face breathing in Bella's scent again like it was oxygen. He started to head to the house clutching the doll in his hand when he felt a sharp prick and looked down to find a note pinned to the back of the doll's dress.

'Tuesday at 3 in the morning, 46.082987,-118.431909 , 3 enforcers.'

Bella had given in.

* * *

NIGHT WATCH CAMEO CONTEST

I have decided that rather than begging for reviews which never works, I should offer incentives to reviewers hoping they get in the habit. And so I am offering up this contest. I am going to pose to you a question with vague clues, and I want everyone to guess the answer. Every wrong answer is worth one point, answers attached to reviews are worth 2 points even if the review is just 'this sucks', the first right answer is worth 4 and any right answer guesses after that are worth three. The chapter before the cameo I will count up all the points and award a first prize and possibly a second I haven't decided. Even a regular review with no guess is worth one point so get those reviews in!

THE PRIZE

The prize is a credited cameo in this story as a 'Fangbanger,' a human that hangs around vampires and lets them drink their blood for sex. I will email you to tell you you won a week before publishing the chapter with a list of vampires you can choose to belong to, and you can then choose your name, gender, clothing, and appearance, and if I decide to make it a speaking part I will give you three or four lines to choose from. You can make suggestions as well like OOOOh can I be sitting in a hot tub/ eating french fries/ instantly attracted to Rosalie, and I will try to accommodate you if I possibly can without making it feel forced.

THE QUESTION

Here is the question:

My cat is named after my all time favorite comic book hero. As of today my favorite comic book hero has NOT been in a blockbuster movie though several characters from the same universe have. My hero has had 2 solo series of books and 2 miniseries, but usually costars with a better known character or is part of a team. What is my cat's name?

Get those guesses in, remember even wildly wrong guesses will get you a point closer to being the envy of your friends when you appear on some hot vamps arm!


	6. Family Skeletons

WOW THIS CHAPTER IS HUGE! Well not really, half of this is the chapter and half is a SPECIAL TREAT! Stay tuned to the end of this story for a sneak peak of things to come.

Also please please please review. I am not mean enough to hold chapters hostage, but getting feed back puts me in a writing mood, especially positive feed back hint hint :-D and if you don't tell me what you don't like I can't change it.

_CHAPTER 6 : Family Skeletons_

A week later Edward had still not removed Bella's sweater. His friends protested, mostly because of the stench, but he wouldn't be swayed. He also left his bedroom window wide open all the time despite the security risk and he was spending a lot of time with their vampire hostage. It had started as a daily visit, making sure she was fed and not being mistreated, he even managed to get Carlisle to give her a cot and a bit more leeway, tethering her with a ten foot chain to the wall rather than binding her to a chair. After a few days of quick ten minute visits during which Carmen said nothing however, he mentioned the possibility of her being some sort of rouge vampire and she gave a negative grunt. So it seemed that though she was unwilling to divulge the secrets of her kind to a stranger she was apparently willing to nudge him in the right direction so Edward began bringing his research down with him to visit her and sitting for hours reading out loud anything that caught his eye and being deterred by the occasional sound.

The other hunters were worried about him, Emmett especially. He had been skeptical when Edward had come inside covered in garbage with a slip of paper containing coordinates and a time, Edward had always loathed vampires with resolute persistence to the point that he wouldn't even speak to them. He found the very idea of Eleazar's mysterious vampire informant who they knew only as Mongoose completely repulsive and admitted to Emmett once that he would prefer they did their own snooping rather than have to trust a vile bloodsucker. Edward having intel meant it was once or twice removed from the actual vampires so it was either inaccurate or planted to lure them into a trap. Edward had been so insistent that the info was good the Emmett had been obligated to check it out with him so Edward wouldn't go alone. When they had arrived at the coordinates and found exactly what Edward expected, three of Caius's mid-level enforcers lounging about and obviously not expecting any sort of attack, Emmett went from nervous to full on worried about where Edward had gotten the information.

This business with the vampire woman was bothersome too. It was bad enough that Edward spent so much time in her presence, worse that he seemed to sympathize with her, but scariest of all was the turn his research was taking in his search for the tattoo he had become obsessed with. He had started by reading up on the coverage of the Vampiric Wars against the hunters and other immortals, all written by angry hunters, shifted to vampire physiology as written by a few dispassionate human physicians, and most recently had begun delving into ledgers of Vampire genealogy written by the monsters themselves and seized on occasion when the hunters managed to take down a coven house. The personal turn of his research combined with his attention to the comforts of the beast in the basement had turned the normally jovial and boisterous Emmett pensive and withdrawn.

Edward noticed none of this. He was too caught up in his research and his symbolic self flagellation in refusing to bathe or eat more than he had to in the hopes that Bella would see how sorry he was. He rose early, always glancing at the window to see if she was there, then picked up some toast on his way to the basement to continue his search for answers.

Edward had given up the pretense of reading bits out loud because he found them interesting when he was directed to the genealogies and instead now read the lists of names in their entirety pausing between each one for the expected response.

"Job Carpenter?"

"Hmm"

"Toliver Biggs?"

"hm"

"Nathanial Ramses?"

"hm"

"Sarah Wildes?"

". . ."

"Ephraim W... Sarah Wildes?" Carmen gave him a pointed look and Edward turned back to the page, translating as he read.

"_Sarah Wildes, born vampire in 1634 to Dimitri of Novgorod (vampire 1463) and Deliverance Good (vampire 1598), wed Jacob Wildes (mortal) in 1689, allowed herself to be burned as a witch with her husband in Ipswitch Massachusetts 1692_." Carmen remained silent through the recitation.

"_Sarah Wildes is important_?"

"hm"

"_Her parents are important?_"

"hm"

"_The circumstances of her death are important?"_

". . ."

"Gratzi Senora" Edward cleaned up his books and hurried to the library.

After a quick online search he faced the library with a list of known and suspected victims of the witch trials from 1500 to 1650. It was unlikely the puritans found two vampires so accommodating during their trials so it was likely that whomever he was looking for had been captured by the more sane less practical early modern Europeans who though driven by a similar religious fervor, were for the most part A) not swayed by the idiot ramblings of little girls and so slightly more likely to detect supernatural beings and B) a little less practical and more inclined to believe fully in malevolent magic and so were more likely to employ the so called "benevolent magikers," pagan witch doctors and such, to help them detain and execute their prey, something even a village full of mortals couldn't do to a vampire who really didn't want to die.

Edward jumped right into the lengthy and frustrating process of cross referencing his list to the ledgers. Because the list was listed by day of death and the ledgers by day of vampirification which could be centuries before the date of actual death, he found his enthusiasm for the project slowly deteriorating until he was almost ready to quit early and go to bed at a decent hour for once. It was then that he noticed a name on the list that though not recognizable, drew his attention like a picture of a long forgotten friend he couldn't quite name. Domencia Gratiadei, beheaded and burned 1647, Castelnovo Italy.

On instinct Edward opened the very front of the oldest ledger and started reading. Four pages in he found the entry he was looking for. _'Didyme of Didyma, born vampire 2017 BC to Rameses of Upper Egypt (vampire 4051 BC) and Inanni of Babylon(vampire 3002 BC), two sisters Athenodora born 2018 and Sulpicia born 2067. Turned and wed Marcus Severus of Rome (vampire 31 BC) in 31 BC. Beheaded and burnt under the name Domencia Gratiadei, Castelnovo Italy under susprion of black magic and sorcery.'_

Edward remembered now where he had seen that name. When he was fifteen and had just started to get fluent in Italian Carlisle had given him an ancient book taken from what was believed to be one of Caius's safe houses to practice translating. He had never gotten far, the first several pages were a long flowery poorly written poem dedicated to the beauty of Dońa Domencia Gratiadei and after that it became a very dry record of events of her trip to Castelnovo to check the sugar beet farms she owned there. He had never gotten around to finishing it because it wasn't considered priority and at the time his Italian was rudimentary enough that the translation of such an old test was extremely labor intensive.

It took Edward almost an hour to find the decayed and dusty book. The book was so old and worn that he pulled on latex gloves before touching it and vowed to petition Carlisle for a book-safe to protect their older manuscripts. The hand written pages were written flawlessly but in a showy cramped style that made them hard to read but eventually but soon Edward found his rhythm and became engrossed in the story within.

According to the account, Caius had once been a member of a larger council rather than the independent head of a coven. This council, made up of three very old vampires, had ruled over all of the vampires in the world with an iron grip until Didyme, whose husband Marcus was on the council, traveled to Castelnovo under the pseudonym she used around humans to check on her family's holdings. She had arrived at a bad time and had been captured in a silver cage and then beheaded and burnt. Silver didn't hurt vampires but for whatever reason they couldn't break through it, it held them as it would hold a mortal. The circumstances of her death had been extremely suspicious as the poor townsfolk would have had no reason to build a cage out of absurdly pricey silver (which they couldn't have afforded anyway) for the witch they accused her of being. Didyme's sister Athenadora had pointed the finger at Aro the informal head of the council, accusing him of having tipped the villagers off to Didyme's arrival and provided the cage. Athenadora refused to be near him even though it meant separating herself from her other living sister and so she and Caius fled with a group of loyal followers to the newly discovered Americas where they set up the Serpents Den Coven. Marcus suspecting that Caius might be right but unable to defeat the more powerful Aro left as well with his most trusted and ended up in Morocco where he started the Weeping Heart Coven. Aro, not to be out done, named those that remained the True-Blooded Coven. As people are wont to do when caught up in the "us vs. them" mentality, within ten years each of the covens had a fearsome coat of arms and coven marking that all members had tattooed on their left wrists, Ouroboros for the Serpents Den, three drops of blood for the True-Bloods, and a heart with a double headed ax lodged in it for the Weeping Hearts. Also as people generally do, within five years of the marking and coat of arms making, the rival factions all had mocking nicknames for each other and parodies of the opposing coats of arms. The hunters, who did not have contact with other hunters overseas therefore had no way of knowing that when the Vampires talked about 'whiners' and 'bleeders' they were discussing rival covens and not annoying allies.

Pleased with the progress he had made Edward started upstairs to tell Carlisle of his findings, only to hear the grandfather clock in the front entrance toll for three AM. His information was interesting but would make no difference tonight and Carlisle had been looking more and more haggard of late. Edward doubled back toward his own room certain he would sleep like a rock for the first time in over a week.

All thoughts of sleep fled when he saw the beautiful intruder sprawled out on his bed.

A SPECIAL TREAT

This story I think will be four or five more, hopefully longer chapters. I have a few ideas for my next story and they are all so good, I can't decide! So I have decided to put it to a vote, here are summaries and teaser chapters to three stories that I have plot outlines and the first chapter for. Vote for your favorite and I will publish the first chapter along with chapter seven of Night Watch. Also PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE guess the answer for the cameo contest, I really like my cameo idea and I want it to work out, I already have cameos planned for these three stories :) remember even wrong guesses count even if your guess is The Tic or Cinderella, and you get points for one guess for every review you submit, if no one guesses by the next chapter I will give another question but the points for this one will still count. You can even go back and review a previous chapter to guess if you want (people that reviewed earlier chapters already get automatic wrong guess points for all the guess-less reviews submitted before the contest started)

So without further ado, the contenders. . .

FAMILY VALUES

Romance/Drama, AU

When Edward was turned in 1918 he left a pregnant Bella behind. 90 years later he finally meets his dying son, but what dark secret are his descendants hiding from him?

_2008, Northwest Memorial Hospital, Chicago_

"_Paging Dr. Cullen, Dr. Cullen to the ICU"_

Edward sighed as he put a few last marks on Mrs. Whitman's chart and slid it back into its little box. His shift was supposed to have been over a few hours ago, but the chief had asked him to handle a VIP that had just come in.

Usually Edward didn't mind extra shifts. It wasn't like he was tired and he had been avoiding the house since the Denali clan had come to stay with them; Tanya's kicked puppy look and dirty thoughts were getting on his nerves. Today had been a particularly bad day though, Mr. McFealy's children were being especially difficult, Dr. Johnson was still pestering him about going on a blind date with his undoubtedly shovel-faced sister, and Nurse Cope had managed to cop a feel while he was distracted which had caused him to let out a very unmanly squeak that had been heard by half the residents he had been supervising at the time. The last thing he wanted to do was babysit some billionaire who had keeled over in his hotel room, probably with some bimbo in spiting distance. Edward was the best geriatrician on staff though and the board always wanted to make a good impression on people with deep pockets. With a small grumble he headed toward the ICU to get a look at the old geezer, taking the long way to avoid walking through the Dialysis unit, he hadn't eaten in a while.

Edward was not as immune to the fragrant banquet laid out before him constantly as Carlisle was, but he found it wasn't very difficult to deny himself anyway. Not when every woman was Bella, every man his unmet son, every child a baby they had never had the chance to have. Even so, he had chosen to specialize in geriatrics initially on the off chance that he slipped up and offed someone.

Now though he couldn't imagine treating anyone else. Somehow he found easing the road to death to be much more therapeutic than fighting it. The others called him Iceman because he preferred taking the most dire hospice cases and never shed a tear over a lost patient. Death wasn't a horrifying unknown to him, it was a much yearned for release. If he wasn't determined to keep his admittedly gray soul as clean as possible on the off chance that he would be able to some day sneak into heaven and see Bella for even a moment before they realized he was there and threw him out, he would have topped himself long ago.

Edward pushed through the door in the ICU and walked up to the nurses station. He didn't even bother looking at the buxom nurse who handed him the chart, her hand lingering on his while she tried to push her chest out for full advantage, even his cold, arrogant reputation wasn't enough to deter some people.

His eyes scanned disinterestedly over the details on the chart. Caucasian male, 89 years of age, collapsed into unconsciousness at 7:15 this evening, probable stroke. Edward's eyes rushed through the rest of the document before they happened to glance back at the top and he saw Mr. Deep-Pocket's name. He froze statue still.

Edward Masen III.

His son was lying in that room separated from him only by a thin door. His son whom he had only ever seen once and from afar. The only tangible proof of his and Bella's doomed love. He at once desperately wanted to run away never to return to Chicago, and desperately needed to be in that room and see his child with his own eyes.

God he hadn't even really thought the boy was still alive. He avoided all business news and celebrity gossip like the plague and his family knew better than to think of Bella or Edward Jr. in his presence.

Edward hurried to the room in question, not at super speed but fast enough to raise a few eyebrows. Taking a deep breath he slowly inched the door open.

He looked so tiny.

EJ was a big man, at 6'3" he would have towered over his diminutive 5'11" father. Edward wondered briefly where EJ had gotten it from, certainly not teeny tiny Bella. Here in the hospital bed though he looked small and frail. Thin like you could snap his wrists with minimal pressure. At once Edward was transported back to another time, when EJ was a 7 year old boy, tall and slender in a way that suggested a gangly adolescence was on the horizon, wearing a sombre black suit and looking very much the lost waif as they slid his mother's coffin into it's cubby, next to the sealed tomb that should have housed Edward's own body.

Edward had wanted so badly to go and comfort the boy he didn't know at all, but by then it was much too late for him to try and resume his old life. EJ would not recognize him but his sister and cousins would scream and try to escape. So Edward had contented himself by watching the open door of the mausoleum from across the cemetery and had dealt with his grief afterwards by hunting human monsters.

He spent ten years on the human diet, and every murderer and rapist he killed he first asked them about Bella, scanning their minds for the image he both longed for and dreaded of Bella in her last moments before some disgusting excuse for a mortal who was too unworthy to even look at her let alone touch her, had ended her life.

He never found the man who had taken his Bella away, or if he did the man had killed so many he didn't remember her. After a particularly brutal feeding though, when he went back to the grimy unfurnished apartment where he spent his days pushing the limits of his special ability searching for his next meal, he washed the blood of his last victim off in the chipped sink and chanced to look up into the filthy broken mirror. Into his blood red eyes. He realized then that if Bella were to walk in the door at that moment she would not see him as her chivalrous knight in shining armor moving heaven and earth to avenge her death, but as the terrifying devil that he was.

He had left that evening in search of Carlisle, committed to making himself worthy of Bella once again in case they met in the afterlife.

Edward broke out of his reverie when he heard mumbling from the bed. A good sign, if he was sleep talking he wasn't unconscious, just sleeping. Edward hesitantly reached out his hand and after a moment of indecision carefully brushed a stray hair off EJ's sweaty forehead.

"Mother?" The hope in his voice broke Edwards stony heart. Here lying in this bed was the one person in the world who understood what he felt for Bella, if not in exactly the same way. The only one in the world who missed her as much as he did.

"Grandpa?"

Edward turned with a scowl towards the door but it instantly fell away when he saw her, standing in the door looking so much like Bella.

"Oh hello, I'm Isabel Masen, EJ is my grandfather."

Edward smiled and took the offered hand. Isabel had Bella's eyes and mouth, but he could see hints of himself in her too. Her manner was the opposite of what Bella's had been as she stood their cool and confident and gave him the once over with a calculating look, as if she was trying to figure something out but she just couldn't place it. Her mind was hard to read. Not invisible but foggy, like looking at something through a shower door. He could glimpse feelings and indistinct pictures but couldn't really read full ideas. Interesting.

"Dr. Cullen" Edward introduced himself with a genuine smile as he released her hand "I have been assigned to your grandfather's case."

"I'll let you examine him then, I have a few business things to tie up so I will leave it to you for a few hours. If you need any information or releases signed the Chief has my number." Her tone was crisp but Edward could feel the worry coming off of her in waves. She genuinely cared for her grandfather a great deal.

Edward smiled again as she turned to leave, he was happy to meet her and wanted to learn about her, but right now he was more anxious to spend a little time with his son.

FUTURE UNCERTAIN

Romance/SciFi AU

Edward chose option two and so stayed with Bella as she aged and eventually died. 500 years later he is medic on a spaceship when he meets Bella reincarnated. Too bad Jacob found her first.

Chapter One : New Beginnings

Edward dispassionately plugged in the key code for his quarters after his shift. It was only the first day of the maiden voyage of the Battlestar New Jersey and already Edward was regretting his decision to go see the stars. Everything he had hated so much about Earth, things that reminded him of Bella like the sun and the trees, he now yearned for. Why he had ever agreed to Bella's ridiculous terms for remaining mortal? She had promised to stop begging him to take her soul if he swore he wouldn't end his life when hers did. Edward had made the deal hastily, pleased to have a reprieve from her pleading, it hadn't really sunk in until he was at her funeral sixty years later what he had promised. He had promised to live an eternity without her.

It had been such sweet torment being with Bella, so young and afraid of hurting her they had moved at a snails pace through the bases of sexual exploration. They had reached their peak when Bella was in her mid fifties, bringing each other off with their hands after a decade of kissing and cuddling naked, but soon after Bella had been too self-conscious to be undressed in front of him and he hadn't pushed, he'd never been able to push Bella what she was comfortable doing.

When she was 80 and frail and dying he cracked and begged her to let him change her, but she refused, told him he deserved a young beautiful wife who could keep up with him, not some old hag that would be constantly referred to as his grandmother. Edward wished now that he had pushed it, even had she never been willing to let him touch her again having her adorable wrinkly smile would be so so worth it. But no. Bella would be unhappy and nothing was worth that.

Depressed and lonely but not for the humans he would find in the mess, Edward went over to the small electric keyboard that he wished so desperately was a piano, and began playing her lullaby. There was a picture of them on their wedding day, old as hell and faded but so carefully cared for that people had no trouble recognizing him and commenting on how fun their twenty first century theme wedding must have been. He had gotten so sick of the questions about her that he had had to bring the picture back to his apartment and replace it on his desk with one of a much older Bella with her arm wrapped around their adopted daughter. People assumed she was his mother and didn't ask questions. Bella would have hated that but it was better than nurses deciding he was a tragic figure that needed a particular kind of comforting. Better they thought he was an asshole with a MILF for a mom.

Edward had played this particular song so many times his fingers didn't falter when he was surprised by his comm badge.

"Dr. Cullen to sickbay." Edward was puzzled, they had been in the air less than a day and the Takiri homeworld was a month away, surely they hadn't encountered hostile forces yet.

"Has there been a fire fight?" he heard the nurse stifle a laugh.

"No sir, one of the fighter pilots tripped on the cat walk and fell half a story, got a nasty gash to the head." If Edward were a little more his old self he probably would have laughed too.

"On my way." Back to work.

BIOHAZARD

Romance/Horror, AU All Human

A love strong enough to survive a Zombie Apocalypse

AUTHORS NOTE: This story is in the general universe of the Resident Evil movies/games because I like the back story but this is not a crossover and as of now I have no intention of including any of the characters from either media (I can't promise that Leon Kennedy won't make a teeny tiny cameo, I love him), I will explain anything necessary for the story for people unfamiliar with the series. The term Vault is from the game Fallout 3 which I have never played because my poor old laptop can't take it.

Chapter One: Not if you were the Last man on earth

March 15, 2010 9:43 AM

The whirring of the centrifuge lulled Bella into a semi-nap as she waited for her samples to be ready for testing. Her thoughts turned quickly to Edward as they always did and she frowned slightly. They hadn't had a lot of time together lately, Bella was obsessed with her latest project at work and Edward still was working nights to pay for his medical school because he refused to be indebted to his father. They had been married almost two months and had shared a bed only a handful of times. It was putting a strain on the relationship, nothing they couldn't weather but a strain nonetheless.

The centrifuge beeped and Bella moved to retrieve her samples. Her current project was simply too frightening to leave undone, but she was getting very close to develop an inoculation for the T-Virus and once that was done she could take a well deserved vacation.

The T-Virus was initially intended as a medicine meant to jump-start dead tissue. It quickly became apparent however that the drug had more military uses than medicinal ones when the dead mice it was tested on jumped up and attacked the scientists administering the drug. Fortunately the scientists were in full hazmat suits and weren't harmed by the rodents. Bella was against the use of biological weapons but their was still so much potential in the drug if it could be harnessed that she had stayed on to work on developing a vaccine that would allow the viruses healing properties but halt the...unsavory side effects.

Bella injected a mouse with her latest serum and with a shudder pushed back the huge steel accordian doors that separated her main lab from her specimens. Rabid and angry, twenty mice from different trials growled and spat and head butted against the reinforced walls of their cages. If any of them managed to so much as chip the glass they would be instantly sedated and then mutilated but it still made her uneasy to have them watching her. She pushed the cube containing her latest trial into one of the empty slots and did all the necessary safety measure to be sure it was air tight before pushing the button to release the T-virus into the atmosphere of the box. It took most subjects an hour to succumb to the gas so she set the video recorder on and closed the door deciding to retest some of her calculations.

Two hours later the mouse still wasn't dead which was a very good sign. The T-virus killed its victims before reanimating them and though some of her vaccines had slowed the progression of the virus, none had so far stopped it for this long. Bella was noting this in her book when the quarantine alarm went off.

Most of the rooms in the Hive, the underground complex where the virus was studied, had automatic kill switches in lieu of alarms and Bella was for a second too overcome with grief to move. To keep the virus from spreading if it got out the hive was programmed to kill all potential threats to the security of the quarantine. Bella's office and personal lab were the sole exceptions as she had a natural immunity. This immunity is what got her the coveted job in the first place. Her lab was situated dead center in the lowest level of the hive far from all the exits and was specially outfitted with air vents not connected to the main system, a well water supply, and enough freeze dried rations to last her a year or so, the idea being that if the virus got out she could continue her work until a special Umbrella Corporation S.W.A.T. Team could come in and retrieve her and her research. The door to her office was even outfitted with an airlock with gas jets so if her research got to human trials she could lure one of the infected in, sedate them, and then secure them to the specially made gurney in a walled off corner of the lab.

Torn between despair at all the lives being lost at right that moment and fear for herself, Bella stumbled to the main lab to make sure the door was secure. The door into the lab was locked but looking in the view screen she saw that the airlock was not empty. She gave a relieved laugh and rushed to undo the locks on her door when she recognized her friend Jacob, one of the military trained guards that watched all the entrances and the most dangerous labs.

"One second Jacob, I need a second to remember the code and then I will get you out of there."

"No Bella, I've been bitten, leave me here, I shouldn't have come. You have my permission to kill and cut me up when I am one of them."

Bella's relief turned instantly to dread. The one lab tech who had contracted the virus had died within five hours and then had become every bit as aggressive as the rats. Even so she couldn't leave her friend out there to die, especially when she had one more vial of a vaccine that had quite possibly worked. Without a word to Jacob she pushed the sedative gas button and rushed to get the gurney.

VOTE NOW! The polls close when I post my new chapter (roughly a week I think) and please review


	7. Words To Say I'm Sorry

This chapter was originally going to be way longer, but I won't have a chance to work on this story again until after thanksgiving. I have decided to extend the voting period for my next story because currently the vote is tied between Biohazard and Family Values at one to one. Please please vote and please please please review

Chapter 7: The Words to Say I'm Sorry

Edward had rehearsed his eloquent apology a million times in his head. He had several speeches prepared to cover all possible circumstances of they're next meeting, all beginning with 'I am so very sorry' and ending with 'I love you.' Some were sappy and sweet, some pathetic and pleading but they were all long and memorized down to the dramatic pauses so he wouldn't be caught off guard when her again saw her. Yet when he saw her there on his bed, looking so small and sad and desperately lonely, the only words that came out were "I got the sweater back."

Bella broke out into a beautiful grin. "I can see that."

The dam broke. All the resolve to be gentlemanly dried up and Edward pounced. He sprawled on top of her and tangled his fingers in her hair, kissing her as hard as he could, as if he could force her stony lips to give. One of his hands found its way to her neck then slid down, teasing the very edge of her breast before sliding down her thigh and once again slipping her leg around his waist. It fit so well there, like they were made for each other. A thought occurred to him and he pulled his lips away slightly to ask, keeping his face in the crook of her neck.

"Why are you so warm?" He could almost feel her smile.

"I was standing by the fire in the library watching you for three hours." Edward was startled by this and abruptly pulled away to look down at her his need for reassurance that she wasn't seen however was instantly when he saw her eyes, her ever present sunglasses having been displaced by their make out session.

He had been right about her eyes when he had seen them from across the street. The ruby red had faded to a light orangeish terra cotta color and Edward was suddenly more worried that she hadn't been eating than concerned about who made up her diet. He called her on it and saw surprised when she smiled in response. "You'll see."

Edward wanted to press the issue but it was hard to remember that when Bella was doing _that_ with her tongue. They resumed earlier activities and Edward set about erasing the previous few weeks when he was such an ass from Bella's mind.

A quarter hour later their romantic fervor had died down enough that they could take care of more practical things, like the fact that Edward reeked. Suddenly shy he gave Bella a final wet smooch and ducked into the bathroom for a quick shower.

Edward washed himself as quickly and thoroughly as possible. When he finished he turned off the water and flung the curtain aside only to hastily grab it back and wrap it around himself when he realized that his little voyeur had shown up for a repeat performance. Bella giggled and Edward remembered belatedly that the shower curtain was clear and she could see him. He blushed and cleared his throat and with a chuckle Bella politely turned her back while he reached for a towel. She didn't leave though, instead walking to the sink (Edward quickly realized that she had been watching him in the mirror) and plopping a recognizable red and black lump into it.

"This sweater needs to be hand washed, go get me some laundry detergent and I will do it for you." Grateful for the distraction from his embarrassment Edward hurried out door and down the stairs to the laundry room, not realizing until he entered the kitchen to the slack jawed stares of his fellow hunters that he was still clad in only a towel, and that rather than late night his research and Bella had kept him occupied until early morning. The silence was broken by Emmett's loud guffaw and soon all the hunters were in hysterics. Edward cinched the towel tighter around his waist, lifted his head, and marched steadfastly into the laundry room for his cup of detergent. By the time he returned to the kitchen on his way back to his room Carlisle had arrived and Edward decided that now was as good a time as any to reveal what he learned so he quieted the snickers with a hand in the air and briefed everyone on his findings from the night before.

Everyone had settled down quickly when Edward had started explaining about Didyme and the vampire rupture. When he was finished there was silence for a few minutes while the implications of what the opposing factions showing up in Washington meant. It was Carlisle who finally voiced what everyone was thinking.

"So there is either a Summit, or a war brewing. Either could cause massive loss of life, so it's good we are prepared. We must be more vigilant than ever. For the moment we will continue to watch. Thank you for this information Edward, your commitment is an example to us all."

_cough_'kiss-ass'_cough _and just like that Emmett had effectively broken the tension in the room. Edward took advantage of everyone's attention being elsewhere to slip off back up to Bella, not noticing Emmett's eyes following him.

The next month was the happiest of Edward's life. Bella snuck into his room just a few minutes after he went to bed every night and they would kiss and discover each other. They still hadn't gotten past clothes, Bella hadn't even taken her sunglasses off in his presence for a while, but that was fine with Edward who like many hunters was brought up a strict old-school Catholic. Hunters hunted more than just vampires, though vampires were by far the most prevalent foe in this neck of the woods, and the Latin prayers needed to vanquish demons and such required belief and conviction to say. Unfortunately with the strong belief came a healthy dose of Catholic guilt, and so Edward who unlike Emmett had decent self control, was a committed virgin abstaining until marriage. He wasn't sure how long his control would last if Bella was naked though, or even, he admitted ruefully to himself, if he could see the skin above her knees.

Work was plodding along nicely too. He had taken over for Eleazar as the collector of intel (Eleazar hadn't been able to contact his source and feared the worst), and Bella's information was always spot on accurate so the missions of late had all been stunning successes. The Hunters always took the vampires b complete surprise and out numbered them two to one. He had asked Bella if the vampires were gathering for some sort of war or some sort of reconciliation but Bella had and answered evasively "a little of both" so he had dropped the subject rather than start a fight. The others, Emmett especially, were not as inclined to drop the fight with him however. Edward insisted that he had to protect his source but Emmett was becoming more and more concerned and Edward had noticed him spying. Edward finally confronted him about it when Emmett barged into his room and almost caught him and Bella together.

"Edward, does this mysterious girl you won't let us meet have anything to do with our run of good luck?"

Edward was silent but blushed which was as good as an admission from him. Emmett looked worried and Edward thought quickly about how to reassure him.

"Not her exactly..." Edward paused as a story formed in his head. "Her brother! Her brother is a fang banger and she was worried about him so she came to me and we started dating and he..." Edward paused again to collect himself so he wouldn't stumble over the lie. "He saw one of his. . . Friends get killed so he isn't devoted to the vampires anymore and he found out about Bella and he started feeding me information. Don't worry, I've met him loads of times and he seems super trust worthy." Emmett broke out in a smile at the news.

"Good, I was worrying that you were getting a little to close to"

"Don't you have a dinner date with Rosalie?" Edward interrupted Emmett before he could mention Carmen as he was sure Bella was nearby listening. Emmett was instantly suspicious again.

"It is three in the afternoon." Edward cringed at his gaffe.

"It that all?" Emmett gave him a long look.

"When can we meet this source of yours?" Edward was ready to protest, they had never insisted on meeting Mongoose, but then he saw Bella over Emmett's shoulder, she poked her head out from behind a tapestry and smiled at him giving him a slow nod.

"I'll ask Bella when he can come." Emmett smiled again.

"Bring her too. I can't wait to meet my future little sister." Emmett left then, muttering what sounded suspiciously like "I'll BET she'll ring his bell" and Edward found himself again alone with Bella.

"What was that about, how are we going to make you a brother?" Bella was suddenly in front of him giving him a peck on the lips.

"Don't worry that was perfect. I know just the guy to help us and he even has a real . . . sister . . . who can pretend to be me." Bella's voice trailed off and she suddenly looked very lost.

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to." Edward wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. "I don't like the idea of pretending I am dating some other girl any more than you do."

"It's not that." Bella hesitated to go on but Edward prompted her with a gentle smile and she continued. "I have a sister, I thought she was home with my mother, they were supposed to come here together yesterday, but mama showed up alone, she said Carmen came ahead to surprise me more than a month ago. She can take care of her self, and she has always been a little flighty, but I am worried. No one saw her arrive. We have lots of people looking for her and we haven't found any sign that she even made it into the state." Bella gave him a weak smile "Sorry I'm a worrier, she probably got distracted by something shiny and is having a ball in some huge metropolis she passed on her way here."

At the mention of Carmen Edward stiffened up in guilt but Bella didn't seem to notice. He still couldn't tell her he decided, and he was pleased for a moment that his loyalty to his family hadn't yet been completely overshadowed by his need for this woman. Still, he had been neglecting their prisoner as of late and he immediately resolved to visit her as soon as Bella left to go wherever it was she went when she wasn't with Edward.

Several hours later, Edward kissed Bella goodbye and watched her leave, making sure she was gone before heading down to the basement. He stopped short just before rounding the corner when he heard a flood of Italian in Carmen's tinkly voice. He didn't have to wonder who she was talking to because almost instantly he heard Eleazar respond haltingly in heavily accented Italian sprinkled with several Italian-ized Spanish words. Carmen's answer was a lower but still friendly voice and if Edward didn't know any better he would almost say she sounded flirtatious. Curiously he peeked around the corner. Sure enough, Eleazar, wearing a button up that had seen better days and extremely loud tie, a huge departure from his usual Hawaiian shirt over rude tee shirt ensemble, had enough grease in his hair to fry a turkey and was nervously making what could only be poorly worded romantic overtures in Italian he had probably learned online. Edward decided it was very sweet and left the two of them alone, it was good to know he would have at least one ally if things didn't turn out the way he hoped.

A week later Bella showed up for their daily make-out session (now with a hint of over-the-clothes gropage) with a huge grin and some great news.

"Athenadora" Edward smiled and motioned for her to continue. Athenadora was Caius's wife and a very big fish. "She is going to be alone with a very small group of guards and I know where. She would make you an awesome hostage; she definitely knows more than I do."

"How small of a group?" Bella smiled at Edwards's confidence in her intel.

"She is going to feed so she is only taking two. Better than two, one of them, Senna, is an ally of mine and she has agreed to turn a blind eye if you promise not to harm her sister Kochira. They are going to a ranch house outside of the city. Athenadora is old and very powerful, but you could probably bring her and Kochira in with four of you, though it might be better to bring six. They don't plan these ahead for security reasons. They are going tonight so you better hurry. I have a surprise for you when you get back." Edward kissed Bella once hard as she jotted down the location of the house on a piece of paper, and then hurried out to gather the troops.

Three hours later Edward Emmett and Rosalie were creeping around the side of the house as Irina Tanya and Kate watched the back door. Edward peeked in a window as he edged under it and saw the three vampires as promised, readying the living room for a little fun before they woke up their dinner. One of them, Senna he assumed, kept twitching nervously and looking around with anticipation, the others didn't notice though, too absorbed in their preparations. Edward's small team silently slipped the last few feet to the front door and Emmett prepared to kick it in as Edward raised his walkie talkie to give the signal. In an instant the little radio had been snatched out of his hand and there was a cold body pushed up behind him. Almost as soon as it had happened Emmett had thrown the body off of him though he had the sense to do it silently and Edward took a second to get his bearings. When he did and he looked at his attacker he was surprised to see Bella, her dark sunglasses barely perched on the end of her nose as she lay sprawled on the ground at his feet. He mouthed her name reflexively, a crucial mistake as Emmett saw and realizing that this pale surprisingly solid girl was Edwards's new girlfriend, snapped the sunglasses off of her face.


	8. The Plot Thickens

Chapter 8: The Plot Thickens

Sorry this took so long, I am trying to improve my writing so I tried to slow down the pace for this chapter. It took three times as long but Is hopefully three times as good. What do you thing? Too fast still? So slow it drags? Constructive criticism is more than welcome, but fluffy praise is happily accepted too. PLEASE REVIEW!

Gold. Not red, not orange-y, but a soft buttery gold. Bella's eyes were not red. This fact seemed to take the wind out of Emmett's sails as he dropped the sunglasses to the ground and backed up. Edward bent to help her to her feet, still confused about why she had stopped him, but confident she had a reason. Bella allowed him to pull her up but then signaled for the hunters to follow her, turning toward a small out building and setting a brisk pace toward it, not checking to see if she was being followed. The hunters stared after her for a second before Edward followed, Emmett sneaking around the house to collect the sisters.

Edward slowly opened the door to the out building and surveyed it. It was a disused tool shed, some of the rusted tools looked like they had been new more than fifty years ago. The shed was pretty cramped and even though Bella stood in the farthest corner, when all of the hunters had managed to squeeze into the tight space Edward had been pushed forward enough that he could reach out his arm and move the hairs from her face. He refrained from doing so though as he thought it best to draw as little attention to her as possible. He found that not touching was much easier than not staring though and he found himself drowning in her eyes.

She didn't look quite right. Her eyes, though quite beautiful were somehow just as wrong looking as most vampires red eyes and though none of the hunters had ever seen or heard of a vampire with bloodless eyes, they weren't stupid and could still deduce what she was from other clues. Like the way her skin a few shades too pale to be considered fair and practically in the realm of albino, or how her eyes shined just a little too much in the dim light from the lonely naked light bulb overhead like a predator, or how she hadn't taken a breath since they got in here. CRAP. Edward coughed and then took a deliberately deep breath looking into her eyes meaningfully. Thankfully Bella took the hint and started, panting almost too fast to be human, but at Edwards look she managed to regulate it to slow even breaths. Edward looked at his comrades to see if they had noticed and his stomach plummeted when he saw Emmett looking at Bella with suspicion. Bella noticed and leaned toward him holding out her hand, in a move Edward would have described as colossally stupid. The second Emmett's hand touched hers his scowl melted away and he smiled as he gave her a quick handshake. Edward's jaw dropped. Bella smiled at him and gently touched her index finger to his chin to close his mouth and Edward jumped back as he felt her skin which was toasty warm. She was warmer than his own skin probably due to the evening spent out in the cold. In a moment of stupendous idiocy Edward blurted out the very dangerous thing he was thinking for his fellow watchmen to hear.

"Why are your hands so _warm" _the second he said it Edward's face drained of blood and he smacked a hand over his mouth as if doing so would pull those treacherous words back. He looked at Bella, horrified at his mistake that could very quickly cost her life but Bella just smiled.

"They were in my pocket silly." As if that explained everything. And to the other hunters it did, they were all chuckling at Edwards minor dumb comment not even considering the ramifications of his statement. Bella grinned and grabbed his hand with her rapidly cooling flesh. "I'll warm yours up for you." She pulled his hand and slid it into her pocket in what the others would see as merely an affectionate gesture. Edward was surprised at the warmth of the pocket. He felt around and found it was emanating from a hot gel pack. He immediately felt very foolish. Bella just smiled and kept holding his hand, merriment twinkling in her newly amber eyes.

_-Ahem- _the lovebirds turned to look at Emmett. "So . . . why are we in this shed?"

Bella's expression suddenly turned very grave. "Vampires coming this way. At least seven of them and I am fairly certain they are part of Aro's elite guard. I don't think they know about us though, they are probably over-responding to some imagined threat, still, we couldn't take them and it's best if they don't know we're here." Edward felt a little burst of joy in his chest every time she said 'we.'

"Pfft, only ten, we can take that many. There are six of us and we have the element of surprise." Unsurprisingly Tanya's sisters both nodded their heads in agreement. Bella frowned.

"But it's the _elite guard._" The hunters all looked at her blankly. "The Volturi." Edward's face scrunched up like he was trying to remember where he had heard that word before while everyone else still looked puzzled. Bella sighed dramatically. "The Volturi are like the vampire police. They're vampires so badass that vampires are afraid of them. They are all good fighters and almost all of them have special abilities. They live in Italy and are part of the True-Blooded coven. I didn't know they were all here though. That's bad."

"Special abilities?" Irina asked.

"You know, like mind reading" All of the hunters suddenly looked alarmed. "You didn't know?"

"Vampires can read minds?" Emmett this time.

"Some can. Others can do other things, mind control, see the future, it's rumored there is a very old vampire that can just will things to happen, like a genie." She paused to gauge the reaction of the hunters. Their faces ran the gamut from horrified to disbelieving. Tanya was the one to finally break the silence.

"How could you possibly know that when we don't? We have been studying them for years whereas you just started dabbling recently. Why should we believe you? How do we know you aren't one of them?" Edward bristled at the implication and jumped to Bella's defense, moving his body in front of hers as if to make a physical shield against the verbal attack.

"All of Bella's information has been right on the money so far and she has risked her life to get it for us. Maybe you should show a little respect. I don't see you sneaking into vampire territory for intel. All of our information before has come from Eleazar's vampire contacts and others like them. Do you really trust them more?" Bella looked at the back of Edward's head adoringly before adding her two cents.

"Vampires with special abilities are apparently very very rare. Like one in a thousand. Since there are only like thirty thousand vampires in the world the number of 'special' vampires on the entire planet wouldn't fill a school bus. And the elite guard has nineteen of them." She paused and directed a smug glare at Tanya from behind the protection of Edward's broad shoulder. "And I know that because my brother is cozy with one of Aro's daughters and she has a special power."

"Aro has daugh..."

"Enough of this back to the matter at hand. Elite guard or not we can't leave the civilians in that house to die. Bella did you recognize any of the guard members you saw so you can give us an idea what we might be up against?" Bella was no longer paying attention. She was staring out the sheds sole grimy window.

"We're too late. They're leaving." She paused and her brow furrowed. "But they don't have Athenadora or her bodyguards with them."

Edward moved up next to Bella and looked out the window at the retreating guard. They didn't look terribly fearsome, they were all slight and the flowing robes they wore fluttered out behind them making them look like princesses in a movie rather than fearsome killers. All of a sudden four blurs darted past between him and the vampires who were walking relatively sedately away before disappearing into the woods. He thought for a minute he had imagined them but when he looked at Bella he saw that her face seemed to have paled a bit, if that was even possible, and her fingers had sunk into the wood of the window sill like it was soft cheese. Edward covered her hands with his own and gently coaxed them off of the windowsill as the vampires finally vanished into the forest. They turned together to see the other hunters were already cautiously making their way out of the shed. Edward waited until they were all gone before wrapping his arm around Bella's waist and leading her outside. He desperately wanted to ask her what was wrong but knew it was too dangerous with the hunters so close.

Emmett met them at the door to the house.

"Why don't you take Bella home? She must be exhausted." Bella pushed past him and through the open door. Edward nearly knocked Emmett over in his rush to follow.

The scene inside was not all what he had expected. The family was dead, piled up in a corner as an after thought. Their deaths had been clean and quick, they were not the apparent target. The true reason for the evening was more than obvious and the lack of blood somehow made it no less ghastly. Athenadora and her small retinue had been brutally dismembered. There were chunks of them spread all over the room and all three of their heads were missing, though which was the local vampire queen was readily apparent from the pieces of velvet gown that some of the cadaver parts were still wearing. Edward turned questioningly toward Bella but she looked like she was about to be sick. She was obviously as shocked by this turn of events as the hunters were. She had no answers. At a look from Emmett Edward started towards her to offer comfort but suddenly Bella's head snapped up and she was running up the stairs almost too fast. Edward hurried after her.

He found her in the last bedroom on the upper floor. It was a child's room and she stood completely motionless staring into the crib. Edward braced himself for more sadness and went to her side. Not looking in the barren crib he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her towards the door. Bella pulled away and reached into the crib. Edward saw movement out of the corner of his eye and realized that the crib wasn't empty after all. There was a baby in it, a girl by the look of her pink onesie and probably less than a month old. She was awake now and her huge blue eyes stared at Bella whose hands were hovering over the little bundle as if she meant to take her. Abruptly she pulled her hands away and backed towards the door. Edward picked up the baby, who was ignoring them now in favor of sucking on her tiny fist. By the time he turned back around Bella was gone.

Edward headed downstairs with the now sleeping baby and a small diaper bag he had filled about ten minutes later to find the hunters finishing up their investigation but no sign of Bella. A pointed look at Emmett got him a vague "I guess she left."

"I'm going to head back and get to work finding this little guys family." Rosalie's head snapped up at the mention of the baby and Edward saw her visibly affect a disinterested look and go back to picking through the remains of the humans. Edward was glad; he really didn't feel like dealing with her baby issues. A little one armed scrounging in the garage produced an old but serviceable car seat and Edward buckled the baby into the back seat of his Volvo, leaving the other five hunters to find their way home in Tanya's Rav 4.

She was a good baby. Quit the whole way back to the mansion. She just watched the back of Edward's head and chewed on her fingers, making soft slurping sounds all the while. For a moment he decided she looked almost like Bella and he wondered what it would be like to have a child with her. Ridiculous. They couldn't even get married. Or do the baby making thing. Heck he wasn't sure it was even physically possible. He glanced in the rear view mirror at the baby again, (she had fallen asleep during his inner monologue) and saw her as she truly looked. Adorable in an ugly sort of way but just a normal baby like any other who didn't particularly resemble anyone yet.

Edward turned the radio on softly and tried not to think of the implications of the turn of his thoughts, but the seed of an idea had been planted, and promised himself he would he would ask her.


End file.
